Driving from Bay area to DL resort

[SuzanneSLO]

Along the lines of the OP, I'm looking for some advice regarding the drive from San Luis Obispo to DLR on a Friday.
We'll be leaving our hotel in San Luis Obispo on a Friday morning (hope to be on road by 9:00) and making a beeline to DLR in order to avoid Friday traffic. Question is which route to take?
We would like to stay on 1/101 as long as possible without causing us major delays, so maybe...
101-134-5?
101-134-210-57S?
Hwy 1 into Santa Monica and then 10 to 5?

Any opinions or even other routes would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
CPC

We live in SLO and have found the most consistently reasonable route to be 101 to 134 to 5, but on a Friday, you will hit traffic. Plan on 5 hours and be happy if you make in 4. These days, we often take the train! Best of luck -- Suzanne

 

[tdashgirl]

Your choices don't really open up until you are past Magic Mountain. I would at least stick with the 5 until you start getting into the metro LA area. From there, if you really want to avoid the downtown LA area, you can take the 210 East to the 57 South, then exit Ball Rd, and head west for about 2-3 miles. This will run you right into the DLR area. This route takes you up and around the LA basin, so it is not as direct, but can be less traffic. Check it out on mapquest or google maps and see how it compares (in mileage and minutes) to the 5.

We do this often, it is more miles, but in the words of DH, "waaaaaaaaaay less stressful." Unless you are going through LA on the 5 in the middle of the night, we have found that the 5 through LA is bumper-to-bumper, with crazy driving and merging freeways. I think you don't save *that* much time (because it is a longer route) but it is less stressful, you cruise at freeway speeds pretty much the whole time (and it has carpool lanes).

 

[jdb in AZ]

We take the 5 all the way...we have a Garmin and she re-routes us if we hit traffic but we take the 5 until we are into LA.

How does Garmin know you're in heavy traffic, or do you reprogram her to head through a different city? We pretty much use her in more rural areas that aren't well mapped. She gets so annoyed when we take the slightest detour to stop at a restaurant, etc. We call her "Gar-mean-a" cuz she cops an attitude with her "recalculating." I shut her down before going off the highlighted route just so we don't have to hear her complain. When we eventually arrive at our destination, the least she could do is cheer or give us a "Well done!" or "It's about time." or "whew you actually made it."

 

[pixiewings71]

How does Garmin know you're in heavy traffic, or do you reprogram her to head through a different city? We pretty much use her in more rural areas that aren't well mapped. She gets so annoyed when we take the slightest detour to stop at a restaurant, etc. We call her "Gar-mean-a" cuz she cops an attitude with her "recalculating." I shut her down before going off the highlighted route just so we don't have to hear her complain. When we eventually arrive at our destination, the least she could do is cheer or give us a "Well done!" or "It's about time." or "whew you actually made it."

We crack up when she says "recalculating" and she says it a lot with us. LOL
No, we have a subscription to live traffic, we paid a one time after we bought her and we get lifetime real time traffic so when she knows there's traffic coming up she reroutes us all on her own. That's the BEST part of having a Garmin for navigation imo, she's taken us around some nasty traffic!!! Well worth the $150 or so we paid for the lifetime subscription.

 

[GrandBob]

I think everyone else posted exactly what I was going to say (avoid the 405 at all costs!!!)

I'm curious about why everyone is saying to avoid 405 at all costs??? Have I just been lucky? I've taken it several times, e.g. if I want to stop in Santa Monica to visit my niece. I then take 405S to 110N to 91E to 5S. IME, as long as you have two people in the car so you can take the carpool lanes, it's a LOT better than 5S all the way. I'd even characterize it as a breeze. Again, have I just been lucky?

-Bob

 

[ArchOwl]

I'm curious about why everyone is saying to avoid 405 at all costs??? Have I just been lucky? I've taken it several times, e.g. if I want to stop in Santa Monica to visit my niece. I then take 405S to 110N to 91E to 5S. IME, as long as you have two people in the car so you can take the carpool lanes, it's a LOT better than 5S all the way. I'd even characterize it as a breeze. Again, have I just been lucky?

-Bob

I wanna drive with you! Lucky! The 405 consistently beats me up, drags me down, throws me around, and deposits me at my destination hours after I was supposed to arrive.

 

[cloudconnected1039]

I'm curious about why everyone is saying to avoid 405 at all costs??? Have I just been lucky? I've taken it several times, e.g. if I want to stop in Santa Monica to visit my niece. I then take 405S to 110N to 91E to 5S. IME, as long as you have two people in the car so you can take the carpool lanes, it's a LOT better than 5S all the way. I'd even characterize it as a breeze. Again, have I just been lucky?

-Bob

Most of my drives on the 405 have been the same as yours: not so bad. I've actually had more trouble with the 5 than the 405 ALOT more trouble

 

[Belle Ella]

Ugh, any time I've been on 405 have been way worse than anything I've hit on 5S. I always stick to just the 5 when I drive down from the Bay Area. But I do usually plan to leave at times when I wont hit a lot of traffic.

 

[CDN Prince Charming]

We live in SLO and have found the most consistently reasonable route to be 101 to 134 to 5, but on a Friday, you will hit traffic. Plan on 5 hours and be happy if you make in 4. These days, we often take the train! Best of luck -- Suzanne

Thanks Suzanne.
Something I forgot to mention is that we will be able to use any carpool lanes as we're a group of 4 so might this fact open up any other possible routes?

Thanks,
CPC